The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Corn Festival plans, swimming pool drawings and a change to the current golf cart ordinance topped agenda items at the Haxtun Town Council meeting Monday night, Sept. 14. The Council continues to meet at the Haxtun Community Center to allow for social distancing practices.

With a full board minus member Craig McCarty, Mayor Brandon Biesemeier opened the meeting with roll call and pledge of allegiance. Skipping ahead to the lone discussion item on the agenda, the swimming pool, board members heard from Larry Steele with Miller and Associates, the company working on drawings for a new swimming pool.

Steele said his company is currently working on a pool project in Grant and he was able to break away for a bit to visit Haxtun and present drawings to the Council in person. The Town of Haxtun contracted with Miller and Associates several months ago to develop plans for a new pool. The drawings phase totaled $2,700.

The project includes a new swimming pool with zero entry, four swim lanes, a drop slide, one meter diving board and a zero-entry splash pad as well as new ADA compliant bathhouse and other site improvements. Steele said the plan includes a heat pump rather than a boiler to heat the pool, which is about 156 percent more efficient. In addition, he said the heat pump should last longer with a life span of 20+ years.

Steele said the drawings were developed with information from the Grant pool project currently underway. He said the two pools are similar, Grant's just a bit larger to include a regulation size pool for swim meets for the local swim team. He also included an estimate of the project at $2.6-2.8 million. That number, he said, is based on research from the Grant project as well as other data. The next step, Steele told the Council, is to develop a rough budget and to begin looking for funding.

Biesemeier said plans are to take the information presented by Steele back to the swimming pool committee and to come up with a plan for moving forward with the project. To date, the swimming pool committee has raised just shy of $300,000 towards the project.

After hearing from Steele, the Council approved the consent agenda and moved onto action items, first hearing from Kristin Hadeen who is on the Haxtun Corn Festival committee this year. She said despite a recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the area, Corn Festival is still a go. Hadeen said to comply with the County variance to host the event, there will be additional space between vendors and sanitation stations set up for those in attendance. The committee has also extended the layout of kiddie land to allow for more room and distancing.

Hadeen said the committee is working closely with the County Commissioners and local health department to continue to host this year's event slated for Saturday, Sept. 26 in downtown Haxtun.

The Council also heard from Trisha Herman with Phillips County Economic Development, who said she wanted to give members an update on her organization. She said while there was not much in-person work from her over the past few months due to COVID-19, she was working behind the scenes to assist with Help Holyoke and Help Haxtun committees who raised funds for businesses and employees of Phillips County most affected by the pandemic. She said in the coming months, plans are to get back to work on the housing assessment and move forward with a housing project in the Haxtun area. Right now, the need is for 17 rental units in Haxtun, based on information gathered during the recent assessment.

In other business, the Council:

• Discussed a recent grant submitted by Phillips County Emergency Manager Bob Heldenbrand for new sirens in Haxtun. The grant has been awarded for a 50/50 match to purchase a new system that would operation with a backup battery feature in the event the power is out;

• Approved quotes for worker's comp and property casualty insurance in the amounts of $21,672 and $54,619, respectively;

• Approved updates to the employee retirement plan, changes include minor wording for the organization's recent name change;

• Discussed, again, the matter of providing water service outside of city limits. Plans are to continue the discussion at future work session and to gather information from other municipalities in the area the provide the service;

• Approved a change in the current golf cart ordinance to allow for riders on rear facing seats;

• Discussed possible projects and uses for coronavirus relief funds;

• Superintendent Ron Carpenter told the Council the west well will need work in the future;

• Police Chief Tanya Mayhew presented second quarter stats for her department including the following, year to date: calls for service, 452; citations issued, 12; warnings issued, 47; misdemeanor arrests, 2; felony arrests, 9; offense reports, 118; incident reports, 334; accidents, 3; animal calls, 41; fire calls, 5; and medical assists, 40;

• The following building permits were approved: Eileen Wagner, 321 West Grant Street to replace gutters; David Bickford, 533 West Bryan Street for a storage shed; David Bickford, 129 North Colorado Avenue for a loading dock; Jack Kirschner, 312 North Washington Avenue for a re-roof; Cameron Ham, 505 North Edmund Avenue for a re-roof; Roger Uecker, 526 East Strohm Street for a re-roof; Greg Chapdelaine, 525 West Strohm Street for a sprinkler system; Ruth Engel, 341 East Raymond Street for a re-roof; Stephen Veik, 337 North Colorado Avenue for basement walls; Lisa Jones, 142 West Strohm Street for shingles, siding and a garage door; Mark McLaughlin, 336 North Logan Avenue for a re-roof; Keith Brooks, 329 North Wallace Avenue for a re-roof; Ceeara Thompson, 342 East Raymond Street for gutters; Shad Grilli, 105 North Logan Avenue for new windows; Chris Daley, 215 West Second Street for fence repairs; Rob Martinez, 626 South Prospect Circle for concrete curbing; Jason Gallegos, 238 North Colorado avenue for a fence; Jason Hadeen, 207 East Second Street for a re-roof; Jeff Schanhals, 404 West Second Street for a re-roof; Danyell Horton, 322 East Strohm Street for a storage container; Joel Woodside, 145 North Washington Avenue for a driveway; Dave Green, 422 North Colorado Avenue for rain gutters; Corey Humphreys, 121 East Fletcher Street for fascia, soffit and stucco; Dean Michael, 222 South Utah Avenue for a re-roof; Harold Cloud, 626 South Logan venue for a re-roof; Trilla Bornhoft, 642 South Washington Avenue for siding, porch and railing; Clayton Spelts, 511 West Grant Street for a deck; Joe Woodside, 305 West Bryan Street for a re-roof; Natalie Krogmeier, 612 South Logan Avenue for a re-roof; Jared Andersen, 318 North Wallace Avenue for a re-roof; Heather Dee, 803 West Strohm Street for a garage remodel; Jim Rifenbark, 241 North Colorado Avenue for a vinyl fence; David Bickford, 533 West Bryan Street for a shop; Rob Martinez, 626 South Prospect Circle for a sprinkler system; Ryan Horton, 322 East Strohm Street for an addition; Barbara Meakins, 221 North Wallace Avenue for a re-roof; Rod Salvador, 451 North Edmund Avenue for a re-roof; JD Stone, 313 West Chase Street for a re-roof; Lauretta Gibbs, 325 South Lincoln Avenue to replace a roof, cinder blocks and cracks.